Read John 3:16-18
Our public square buzzes with visions of paradise. Countless advertising dollars are poured into the promotion of the latest cures for society’s ailments. From skincare to fixing the government, a better tomorrow is just around the corner. So they say.
It’s not all wrong. Good healthcare does help. Visionary leaders may turn a company or even a country around. And investing wisely (if all goes well) can make tomorrow more comfortable. But the reality is these are only temporary solutions for the harsh rifts of brokenness in our world. And deep down we all know it. The facts are too hard to ignore.
After all, can we really have a private paradise while the rest of the world goes on suffering? And death is around the corner. How can anyone relax in paradise with a dark coffin on the horizon? Or suppose some wonder drug could give you forever; could you guarantee longterm happiness in a world that has never known lasting peace?
In John 3:16-18, Jesus tells Nicodemus about the only doorway to paradise. The eternal Son of God. He is the true doorway to eternal life.
When sin entered the world, God could have thrown His creation in the trash like a great big failed art project. But He didn’t. He looked at you and saw something worth saving. And He entered the story of humanity to do the impossible.
Because of God’s great mercy, we no longer we have to fear what the poet W.H. Auden lamented for his friend Louis MacNeice, “God may reduce you on Judgment Day to tears of shame, reciting by heart the poems you would have written, had your life been good.”8
For, as verse 17 points out, God sent His Son into the world not to condemn it, but to save it. The haunting scenario that Auden fears his friend will face is removed by Christ’s Cross for whoever puts their trust in Jesus. Whatever the enemy might say, God doesn’t sneer as He holds open the true doorway to paradise. Rather, His eyes brim with tears of mercy. Not, “you should have known better.” No derogatory, “Couldn’t you save yourself?” Just, “Welcome.” Just, “Lean on me. Just, “Get into the ark, we’re going home.”
For Reflection:
- Reread verse 18. Why do all other doorways to paradise fail? Name some reasons the doorway to paradise is exclusive to Jesus.
By Steven Jaehnert
